This is a reissue of a classic book by the late Michael Green, an Oxford and Cambridge trained biblical scholar with a laudable talent at making his erudition intelligible to interested believers. The author coherently organized his presentation by tracing the evolution of the word “salvation” in scripture from its use in the religion of Israel through to the Christian experience. Professor Green combines his own exegesis of specific passages with an informed opinion about the work of other scholars. Throughout, he applies scripture to social experience thus fulfilling the promise of his subtitle to show the meaning of salvation for “Redemption and Hope for Today.”

Professor Green knew that the majority of his readers conceived of salvation as the highly personal decision of a Christian believer. He is at pains to explain that for ancient Israel, salvation was deliverance for the entire nation. Evolution comes gradually so that in the time of Maccabees, the faith and actions of defiant individuals become salvific instruments for the nation (pp. 43-44).  Green links the evolving Hebrew concept to the Christian one by reference to Jesus, who is the connection between them. Thus, in a simple footnote (#4, p. 39) he notes that Jesus’ references to the eschatological “these days” (Mark 13) interpreted the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem as punishment to the Jewish nation to the lack of belief among those who denied Jesus his Messianic mission.

I think any preacher preparing a sermon would be wise to include this book on a list of biblical commentaries. The role Green describes for the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, for instance, could be mined for several sermons in Advent and Lent. Any homily would be improved by noting any of the scriptural tidbits provided the book. For instance, we are told (p. 212), that the word for “lamb” in Aramaic is talya, a term that is also equivalent to the Greek pais/ παῖς, i.e. “child,” or more colloquially, “kid”.  The Agnus Dei, therefore, can be professionally translated as “God’s kid,” summoning up sports images to keep the back benchers awake “on any given Sunday.”

There are some annoying reminders that the book was written in the 1960s, however. Bible citations are from published versions no longer current. The only references to Catholic biblical scholarship fit on one page (p. 163) and are not flattering. (I suspect that a post-Vatican II version of the book would find more to praise). Also inconsistent was the treatment of Greek texts. In some instances, the words are rendered in the Greek alphabet; in others, the word is written in the Latin alphabet. This inconsistency occurs even on the same page (e.g. p. 120, both sōter and σωθη). Other than this editorial oversight, I found only one misprint: “savour”(?) for “saviour” (p. 178).

The above items are completely minor and are more than compensated by Green’s folksy approach to profound religious realities. Once again, I imagine a homilist to become beneficiary. For instance, to explain Paul’s murky concept of the afterlife, Green retells (p. 182) the story of a dog standing at the door of his sick master, concluding with reference to the good Christian going to meet his Maker: the dog “has no notion of what is inside that door, but he knows that I am here.” It is impossible to detail all the insightful scholarship contained in this slender volume, but even a handful are more than enough to justify the decision by Eerdmans to reissue this work in a series of reprints from Professor Green.